The following is a list of professional sports teams in Virginia. Virginia is by far the most populous U.S. state without a major professional sports league franchise playing within its borders, although three of the major-league teams representing Washington, D.C.—the NFL's Washington Redskins, Major-League Baseball's Washington Nationals, and NHL's Washington Capitals—have their practice facilities and operational headquarters in Northern Virginia.
There have been proposals to locate stadiums for Washington teams in Northern Virginia or to locate teams in the Hampton Roads metro area surrounding Norfolk, but none have come to fruition. When Jack Kent Cooke decided to build a replacement for the aging RFK Stadium as home of the Washington Redskins, he considered a site in Alexandria until public opposition developed. An attempt to bring a National Hockey League expansion franchise to Norfolk in the 1990s was rejected by the NHL. The Houston Astros were nearly sold and relocated to Northern Virginia in 1996, but Major League Baseball owners stepped in and scuttled the proposed transaction in order to give Houston time to approve a new stadium deal. A proposal to relocate the Montreal Expos to Norfolk was considered by Major League Baseball in 2004. MLB had also considered a site near Washington Dulles International Airport in Loudoun County as a possible new home for the Expos. However, a reluctance by state officials to dedicate funds to the project along with concern about traffic helped lead MLB to select Washington as the Expos' new home. The ownership of the Florida Marlins had mentioned Norfolk as one of the cities to which it could relocate the team, but the Marlins will now remain in South Florida for the foreseeable future since they will get a new park in Miami in 2012.
The Virginia Squires played in the American Basketball Association from 1970 to 1976; the team was left out of that league's partial merger with the NBA after the 1975–76 season.
The Virginia Destroyers are to start play in the United Football League in 2011.
| Club | Sport | League |
|---|---|---|
| Bluefield Blue Jays | Baseball | Appalachian League |
| Bristol White Sox | Baseball | Appalachian League |
| Danville Braves | Baseball | Appalachian League |
| Lynchburg Hillcats | Baseball | Carolina League |
| Norfolk Tides | Baseball | International League |
| Potomac Nationals | Baseball | Carolina League |
| Pulaski Mariners | Baseball | Appalachian League |
| Richmond Flying Squirrels | Baseball | Eastern League |
| Salem Red Sox | Baseball | Carolina League |
| Virginia Rampage | Dodgeball | National Dodgeball League |
| Virginia Destroyers | Football | United Football League |
| Virginia Cyclones | Football | East Coast Football Association |
| Richmond Revolution | Football | Indoor Football League |
| Richmond Raiders | Football | Professional Indoor Football League |
| Norfolk Admirals | Ice hockey | American Hockey League |
| Richmond Renegades | Ice hockey | Southern Professional Hockey League |
| Fredericksburg Gunners | Soccer | USL Premier Development League |
| Fredericksburg Lady Gunners | Soccer | W-League |
| Hampton Roads Piranhas | Soccer | USL Premier Development League |
| Hampton Roads Piranhas | Soccer | W-League |
| Northern Virginia Majestics | Soccer | W-League |
| Northern Virginia Royals | Soccer | USL Premier Development League |
| Richmond Kickers | Soccer | USL Professional Division |
| Richmond Kickers Destiny | Soccer | W-League |
| Richmond Kickers Future | Soccer | USL Premier Development League |
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Famous quotes containing the words list of, list, professional, sports and/or teams:
“The advice of their elders to young men is very apt to be as unreal as a list of the hundred best books.”
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935)
“Love’s boat has been shattered against the life of everyday. You and I are quits, and it’s useless to draw up a list of mutual hurts, sorrows, and pains.”
—Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893–1930)
“... all professional ideologies are high-minded. Hunters, for instance, would not dream of calling themselves the butchers of the woods.”
—Robert Musil (1880–1942)
“...I didn’t come to this with any particular cachet. I was just a person who grew up in the United States. And when I looked around at the people who were sportscasters, I thought they were just people who grew up in the United States, too. So I thought, Why can’t a woman do it? I just assumed everyone else would think it was a swell idea.”
—Gayle Gardner, U.S. sports reporter. As quoted in Sports Illustrated, p. 85 (June 17, 1991)
“A sturdy lad from New Hampshire or Vermont who in turn tries all the professions, who teams it, farms it, peddles, keeps a school, preaches, edits a newspaper, goes to Congress, buys a township, and so forth, in successive years, and always like a cat falls on his feet, is worth a hundred of these city dolls. He walks abreast with his days and feels no shame in not “studying a profession,” for he does not postpone his life, but lives already.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)